An Interview with the Arts and Literary Journal, ArtAscent

It is May 2021.  With the launch of Fishermen's Fingers (my e-novella) in January. And While the Kettle Boils (micro fiction) releasing in March, it slipped my mind that I did an interview with the fabulous arts and literary journal, ArtAscent, a couple of months ago. You can watch it here:

Link to my interview with ArtAscent.

Publication release for While the Kettle Boils

While the Kettle Boils released March 9th 2021

My long awaited collection of micro fictions is here.

150 stories each of approximately 150 words. These stories were written one-a-week for three years with breaks for Christmas from 2016 to 2019. They were originally drafted, yes, while my kettle boiled (then went through a fair bit of editing in the months that followed). They are humorous, sad, thought-provoking and all points between. They are brief enough to be read while your own kettle boils. Short enough to read from your phone even.

There's a bonus novella at the back. It's supposed to be a surprise!

Availability is noted at the end of this post. A launch will be announced in the early summer. 

978-1-950730-74-2

Here's the Press release:

 While the Kettle Boils

Remarkable Nova Scotian Author Pens Flash Fiction Collection

PORTLAND, OR; March 9, 2021—Unsolicited Press announces the release of WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS by S.B. Borgersen, a short fiction collection that reaches into the hearts of every reader. 

WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS by S.B. Borgersen is a fervent and economical collection featuring 150 perfectly manicured micro-fictions. Jude Higgins, the event organizer at Bath Flash Fiction, called the collection, “Witty and insightful... Borgersen’s tiny stories have inspired other writers from all over the world.”

About S.B. Borgersen

S.B. Borgersen is a British/Canadian author, of middle England and Hebridean ancestry, whose favoured genres are flash and micro fiction, and poetry. She had a diverse career path, an analyst in a shoe factory, the same thing for a children’s book publisher, teaching art, and filing for the civil service, but mostly she climbed a precarious ladder in the IT industry culminating in strategy and project management, which, by necessity in those days, included writing writing writing mountains of non-fiction — always allowing herself to be slightly creative with proposals, reports, technical and training documentation.

 

Sue turned her back on industry and commerce in the early nineties, escaping the stressful rat-race and finding the simple life and peaceful place she’d always sought to allow for creativity. That place was Nova Scotia where she returned to her skills from art school and made an uncomplicated living as a visual artist and potter. That is, until she got the creative writing bug. Since 2000 her writing has won prizes, been mentioned in Hansard and published internationally in literary journals and anthologies (print and online). The list of publications is extensive and can be found at www.sueborgersen.com. She is a member of both The Society of Authors UK, and The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia. 

Sue lives in a crumbling old house on the shores of Nova Scotia with her patient husband and a clutch of lovable rowdy dogs. 

About Unsolicited Press

Unsolicited Press was founded in 2012 and is based in Portland, OR. The press strives to produce exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from award-winning authors. Learn more at  www.unsolicitedpress.com. Follow the press on Instagram and Twitter @unsolicitedp.

While the Kettle Boils is available on March 9, 2021 as a paperback (248 p.; 978-1-950730-74-2)  and e-book (all major retailers). The title is distributed to the trade by Ingram.

###

Press only, Unsolicited Press

Eric Rancino

619.354.8005 

marketing@unsolicitedpress.com 

For artist interviews, readings, and podcasts:

S.B. Borgersen

sueborgersen@hotmail.com

Available from your regular book shop or library, just quote 978-1-950730-74-2. and check the Borgersen spelling!

Some of the places you can find it too:

Unsolicited Press

Barnes and Noble

https://www.booktopia.com.au/while-the-kettle-boils-s-b-borgersen/book/9781950730742.html

Waterstones

https://bookshop.org/books/while-the-kettle-boils/9781950730742

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/while-the-kettle-boils/9781005388249-item.html

Announcing Two Books by S.B. Borgersen

 Unsolicited Press is a publisher that does not mess around. Once the proposal is accepted—contracts are agreed and the editorial schedule is established. And this is what happened to me in the summer of 2019.

As a result of working closely with Managing Editor, Summer Stewart, two of my books are now available on pre-order from an Amazon near you, and from Unsolicited Press (be still my beating heart): 

Fishermen's Fingers direct from the publisher. Or from Amazon. 

Kicked from one orphanage to another, Lenny’s had a raw deal from his first breath…until the rebel in him finds a way through. 

"Fishermen’s Fingers" peeks into the underbelly of a remote coastal community, revealing how poverty, an unwanted pregnancy, and a bad start in life can lead to a precarious adulthood for those who are different, like Lenny.

There are no real worries in small communities where houses are not locked and children are sent alone to the store for a loaf of bread, but when 10-year-old Betty isn’t in her usual seat at school, her teacher, Miss Watson, has to explain to students the perils of talking to strangers.

Like most aftermaths, this becomes a story of ‘if-onlys,’ where naivety and trust blind those who should have seen, should have known.

But where strong bonds of friendship, love and caring are never far away.

****

Also announced for pre-order this week is my collection of micro fictions, 150 in all. The print issue will come with a bonus. There is also talk of an audio book, but keep that under your hat for now...

This is what my publisher says: WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS is a spunky and economical micro-fiction collection with 150 baubles to savor. Readers will be thrilled to find a very special surprise at the end of the printed collection. Preorder today for release on March 9th 2021.

As many of you know, this is a collection written over three years. Micro fiction is a favourite genre of mine and forces me to edit out anything extraneous. They are quick reads, but often they make you wonder and want to read again. This is what early readers have said:

Again, you can pre-order from the publisher Unsolicited Press or from an amazon near you Amazon.ca books by S.B. Borgersen

My third book for 2021 will be released in December. It is a 20 year collection of Poetry, Of Daisies and Dead Violins. Please let me know if you'd like to be on the mailing list for advanced information. Thank you.

S.B. Borgersen, Biography summer/autum 2020

It's time to update the bio, I'm told. So here it is, warts and all. This should probably start with the most recent achievement - but that's not the way I roll. 

Sporting 87 of my Ad Hoc stories on my Litographs scarf. December 2017

The full version follows this, but if you'd like the short version:

S.B. Borgersen - short biography.

Once described in the writing world as a ‘third space inhabitant’, S.B. Borgersen, originally from England, writes and makes art on the glorious shores of Nova Scotia, Canada.

Sue’s favoured genres are poetry, short and micro fiction. She is published internationally in anthologies, and arts and literary magazines, in print and online. She’s currently re-working one of her fourteen NaNoWriMo novels into a novella-in-flash.

S.B. Borgersen is a long-standing member of The Nova Scotia Writers’ Federation, a keen member of the ex-pat writers’ group PENS (Pens Around the World), and a member of The Society of Authors. Sue was a judge for the Atlantic Writing Competition (Poetry Category) 2016 and Hysteria (Poetry) 2017.

Her e-novella, Fisherman's Fingers was published on January 1st 2021 followed by her collection of 150 micro fictions, While the Kettle Boils (print and digital), in March. Of Daisies and Dead Violins, collected poems, written over 20 years, became available in print and digital format in December 2021. Eva Matson, an e-novella, was released in May 2022. Her publisher is Unsolicited Press, Oregon.

www.sueborgersen.com 

  

Here's the fuller story:

Achievements and publications - S.B. Borgersen:

1958 My Life Story: told by Laika, the sputnik dog in The Crusader, the first school magazine from King Richard School Dhekelia.

The missing years, mountains of non-fiction, only slightly creative, technical and training documentation.

2000 The Wings of the Doves in A Drop in the Ocean, a collection of six short stories, published by Brave Waves. A writer-initiated project, a result of the NSCC creative writing programme.

2000 2nd place with The White Wisteria in South Shore Literary Society annual competition. ($50 prize!)

2001 2nd place (poetry) with Life in the Atlantic Writing Competition. (another $50 prize!)

2009 The big breakthrough: Sister of No Mercy, one of 75 poems from poets around the world in Leonard Cohen You're Our Man, from the Foundation for Public Poetry, to celebrate Mr Cohen’s 75th birthday. Leonard Cohen You're Our Man

2011 20 Winners at the Game of Life, essays by successful women, published by Parker and Watson. 20 Winners at the Game of Life

2012 Mail Order Bride in Foreign Encounters, a Writers Abroad anthology.Foreign Encounters 

2012 Layers, poems and photographs. Self published using Lulu Layers

2013 Shortlisted by the CBC for The Song that Changed Your Life.

2013 Edited, designed and produced Distant Voices, talking drums A Six Week, Long Distance Poetry Project for More Writers Abroad. Published using Lulu. Distant Voices

2013 Peeling, 39 poems and photographs written in 2012 and 2013. Published using Lulu

2013 Knickers a creative non-fiction essay, was published in the anthology Foreign and Far Away. This work subsequently received acknowledgement from the provincial government of Nova Scotia for the manner in which it addressed the tragedy of the Bangladesh factory disaster and compared it with excellent working conditions in the Maritime underwear factory, Stanfields, 100 years earlier. Foreign and Faraway

2013 to present: contributed to ArtAscent, the international arts and lit journal with flash fictions: Emergence, The Sequence Dance, The Green Dress, Loved to Death, and Three Anthems for Althea, along with the poems, The Feel of Dark, Eating an Orange Before Breakfast, and Point of View, in addition to visual art. ArtAscent

2015 Solas, a collection of short poems on the subject of light was published in Kaleidoscope.Kaleidoscope

2016 Stiff as Boards, a short story set in the Canadian Maritimes, published by Centum Press in 100 Voices Volume 1.100 Voices volume 1

A consistent contributor to Ad Hoc since January 2016, with her micro story, Walter’s Quest, being pronounced a winner in September 2017. http://adhocfiction.com

2016 Then I Kissed Her in Adverbially Challenged published by Chris Fielden. http://www.christopherfielden.com

2017 Wrong Stones in Nonsensically Challenged also published by Chris Fielden

2017 Shapes and Trip of a Lifetime, two short stories, shortlisted by Writing magazine.

2017 Tonight’s the Night longlisted in the Bath Flash Competition and published in To Carry Her Home - Bath Flash Fiction Volume 1. To Carry Her Home

2017 Interview with Hysteria https://www.hysteriauk.co.uk/2017/06/06/an-interview-with-sue-borgersen-poetry-category-judge-for-hysteria-2017/

2017 24 Hours of a Canadian Winter, first prize in Writing magazine’s Numbers Poetry competition.

2018 an interview with Jude Higgins of Bath Flash Fiction Award https://bathflashfictionaward.com/2018/01/on-being-an-adhoccer-s-b-borgersen/

2018 My poem 'How You Think You Might Find Happiness' was published by ArtAscent in their April 2018 issue. https://artascent.com

2018 Hit the 100 mark with Ad Hoc. That is 100 micro (150 words) story without a break. Looking for a publisher. 100 stories. 100 pages. What's not to like?

2018 Tuesdays (a short-short story) accepted by Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine for their 11.1 edition.

2018 My short The Blackout takes the 'featured story - Gold' place in June's issue of ArtAscent. The review by Oleksandra Osadcha is overwhelming.

2019 Daniel was accepted in February and published in April by Wells Street Journal https://wellsstreetjournal.com on page 56.

2019 Coming of Age accepted by Setu. Published May 3rd Coming of Age

2019 Daylight Robbery Shortlisted by Strands

2019 Mike and Sophie accepted by 50-words on April 11 2019  https://fiftywordstories.com

2019 - May 3rd Partners published on The Drabble http://www.thedrabble.com

2019 - May 26th The Mackenzies published by Fewerthan500 The Mackenzies

2019 - June 1 - Tunnel Vision was longlisted by Micro Madness New Zealand 

2019 - June 21 - Pink Capri finally found a lovely home with Strands Publishing Pink Capri 

2019 - July 9th - Trip of a Lifetime published by Cafelit. Trip of a Lifetime

2019 - July 15th - The Escape long-listed by Retreat West 

2019 - August 18th - Seeing the Light -  Published by Fewer than 500 Seeing the Light

2019 - September - da Vinci's Burlington House Cartoon - poem shortlisted by Writing Magazine

2019 - September - Micro Fictions Collection of 150  - manuscript While the Kettle Boils accepted for publication by Unsolicited Press.

2019 - October  - Contract signed and Editorial Schedule for While the Kettle Boils agreed. Publication March 2021

2019 - November - A to Z accepted by Wells Street Journal

2019 - November - letter printed in Writing Magazine

2019 - November - Stiff as Boards to get a 2nd publication by Fresh Ink

2019 - December - Essay 'What is Home' accepted for publication in 2020

2019 - December - A story with a beginning a middle and end published by Storgy  Link to story on Storgy

2020 - January - 4 poems inspired by Nova Scotia season in THE POET THE POET - seasons issue

2020 - February - Blue white gold, a short story, is accepted for publication by Strukturris. https://strukturriss.net/current-issue/

2020 - February - Indigo Sweetwater and Joe's Trip to the Library (flash fictions) published by Setu in March/April.

2020 - April - poem The cookbook given to you by your mother - published by Flora Fiction Flora Fiction page 57

2020 - April - The long-distance helpful phone call from your mother - accepted in 42 word stories 

2020 - April - my poem - Were you once an art teacher - really published by Blue NibWere you once an art teacher, really

2020 - June 2 - stories published by Setumag  Indigo Sweetwater at Setumag

and Joe's Trip to the Library

2020 - June - Made the top 22 in New Zealand's Flash Frontier Lockdown issue - publishing in video form on Youtube between 1st and 22nd (shortest day in New Zealand. Reading Two-faced Moira - micro fiction

2020 - June - From Coalman’s Corner to Eternity in Strands From Coalman's Corner to Eternity

2020 - June -  Unsolicited Press accepted Of Daisies and Dead Violins - collected poems - for publication in late 2021.

2020 - June - Vapour Trail published by pendemic

2020 - June. Long-Distance Care published by LD BabyBabble Lockdownbabybabble

2020 - July - e-novella Fishermen's Fingers accepted for publication by Unsolicited Press. To be published January 1st 2021

2020 - July - Blink Ink accepted Himalayan Yak Chews for publication August 2020 edition

2020 - July - Semantics published by ArtAscent in the  Abstract edition

2020 - August - Finding Peace published by paragraph planet Finding Peace on paragraph planet

2020 - August - Where's Home published by Moose House Press has one of my essays - https://www.moosehousepress.com/product-page/where-s-home

2020 - September - Shortlisted by Retreat West for Hidden Messages

2020 - October - Shortlisted by Strands for The Ballad of Jock McCoy - to be published shortly

2020 - October Published It Wasn't About Bernard on Reedsy It Wasn't About Bernard

2020 - October - Shortlisted by Retreat West

2020 - October - Honourable Mentions in Literary Taxidermy for Convent Girls in the Morrison Challenge and Strong and Black in the Huxley challenge.

2020 - October - Empty Tables - photographic art accepted by Patchwork Lit mag for publication in winter 2020. issue.

2020 - October - More So received 2nd prize in the Retreat West micro comp. https://www.retreatwest.co.uk/more-so/

2020 - November/December - 2 books announced for pre-order. See above post.

2020 - December. Longlisted in Strands.

2021 has been a roller-coaster. Working with my publisher, Unsolicited Press, on January 1st my novella, Fishermen's Fingers, launched. On March 9th While the Kettle Boils was released. The editorial schedule for Of Daisies and Dead Violins got into full swing—and was released in December. My novella, Eva Matson, was published in digital format in May 2022. And my short story collection, The Sequence Dance, will go out into the world in April 2023.

In addition, there have been successes with short/microfictions and poetry in Art Ascent (issues 47 and 49). The Miramachi Reader, Paragraph Planet, and National Flash Fiction.

August 1st 2021. Bright. Beautiful. And Bold, shortlisted by Lockdown Baby Babble

  

The Joy of Editing

Editing. I have always avoided this bogey. Up until recently, editing has filled me with a feeling of doom. Tedious old doom. I suppose I’ve always seen myself as a pioneer. Someone who likes to break new ground and then move on. But since my collection of micro fictions was accepted by my lovely publisher, my view has changed.

My editorial schedule with Unsolicited Press in Oregon spans 18 months. Structured. Dates. Deadlines. And really good communication.  I am currently at the deadline for the copyedit stage.

I look at the manuscript with the professional markups and suggestions and my mouth waters as I imagine a school teacher with a big fat red pen might. It’s a brand new feeling for me. Exciting even. 

Cutting must be done. And I do it with an eagerness that surprises me.

The process makes me think of a sculptor armed with chisels and hatchets before a block of marble straight from the mountain. With beautiful veins running through. A sculptor knows that whatever is carved away makes no difference to the beauty of the stone. That whatever was there to begin with, will still be there. The mountains, the life-giving veins.

And I feel that is the case with my book, ‘While the Kettle Boils, micro fiction’. There are 150 stories in the book written, more or less, weekly from 2016 to 2019. They are being published in the order they were written and, as I read through, I follow my editor’s advice and chop out too may occurrences of certain words — ’so’, for example, I see how I have improved over those three years as the further through the book we go, the fewer edits are required.

Members of my wonderful writing group, Writers Abroad, had already worked their magic on the manuscript before it was ever sent to the publisher, and they know how many oopsies etc. there were then. Writers Abroad is the village that helped raise this book to its feet. Now, with Unsolicited Press, it is getting it to walk forward.

And that is the joy of this editing process. Working with good and talented people who are generous with their time and gracious with their help. For me it is like a treasure hunt now, my loot bag is the markup app, and the further we go, the fewer things drop in the bag.

While the Kettle Boils will be launched in the spring of 2021. I’ve now signed a second contract with Unsolicited Press to publish my collected poems, Of Daisies and Dead Violins, in late 2021. The editorial schedule for the poetry book is already underway and what a joy that is too.

Front and Back Matter, does it matter?

 image: S.B. Borgersen

I don’t know about you, but when I have a new book in my hand I take time to consider the front matter, from the cover all the way through to the table of contents before I settle down to Chapter one.

It does aggravate me, however, when certain e-books swing right into that first chapter, skipping over all the well considered front matter:

Traditionally, front matter is the last thing to be written by the author, but hopefully the first thing the reader reads, well this reader anyway. Some of the formal front matter is provided by the publisher e.g. title, copyright, and table of contents pages. The rest is optional and says much about the author to the reader. Every page of the front matter is numbered in lower case roman numerals beginning with i for the title page.

All front matter pages should begin on a recto (right hand) page, except the copyright page with is placed on the verso (left hand).

There is a long list of optional front matter - and for me they all really do matter. This is where the author has applied much thought and it all deserves to be read and considered: 

Dedication

Epigraph

Foreword

Preface

Author’s introduction

Author’s notes including sources of reference material

Prologue - these seem to be making a come-back

And finally, before chapter one, the all important acknowledgements - in my experience it takes more than the author to create the finished book - so time for all involved to take a bow.

Now the back matter. You’ve finished the book, you take a deep breath of regret that it’s over, and another deep breath with appreciation for the creation that has just been shared with you.

The back matter can consist of:

An epilogue or after-word or postscript

Endnotes, good alternatives to footnotes

Bibliography, references to sources - could be alternative to author’s notes in the front matter if appropriate.

Glossary, if any special vocabulary has been used.

Appendices

Copyright permissions, where a fee has been paid to use copyrighted lyrics or images for instance.

Image credits, linked to the above - but could apply separately to the cover images.

Further reading, often the opening chapter of a sequel or other book by the same author

Index, if necessary

Then, on the back cover, or inside the flyleaf, is the all important author biography, usually called ‘About the Author’ with a super mugshot, often with their pet cat or dog, or in their garden surrounded by daisies, or on a balcony overlooking Venice - well you get the picture.

So, my question to you is, with all the work that goes into the front and back matter, do you read it? Does it really matter to you. 

It really and absolutely matters to me.

image: S.B. Borgersen

La Crême de la Crême

Muriel Spark’s Approach to Writing.

I recently watched a TV documentary about the author Muriel Spark (Dame Muriel Sarah Spark).  She was the genius author behind, probably her best known novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. 

In the interview she talked about her approach to writing fiction. She opens the interview as follows, “I think of a title. And I go around telling everyone I’m going to write a book by that name. Then one day I write the title. I put ‘by Muriel Spark’ under it, then I turn the page and I write ‘Chapter One’. And then I write the first sentence and then I go on from there. Really, that’s how it is.”

If you’d like to experience the rest of the 60 minute documentary go here. https://youtu.be/v6_u05fMwDA it is mesmerising. At least I found it so.

But back to the opening of the interview. I felt so reassured by listening to her speak about her approach to writing. Because it is also close to my own. Maybe not always a title, it can be just one word. A prompt. And a story will begin buzzing. Characters will just show up. Human nature (and all its elements) will take over and carry the story to a place I had not planned. As you know, I write mostly without conscious thought.

I stop and wonder if I should think. If I should plot. Do some character studies. Give thought to settings. Stick to some of the guidelines in the rules of writing. But no, for me that is a turn off - for me it stilts my fiction - because, for me life (well mine anyway) is not like that. Life just bowls along, or around, or backs up, or falls over, or in fact just stands still. And I don’t see why fiction should be any different.

So I thank Muriel Spark for humbly speaking about her writing. For the genius of her writing. It has given me confidence to continue to do my own thing in my own way and not be one jot concerned with rules.

How about you?

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/listen-to-muriel-spark-read-from-her-work-in-honor-of-her-hundredth-birthday